About Me

Gregg Walker is a Harlem Resident and 1997 graduate of Yale Law School who worked as an investment banker for 9 years and was the Vice President of Strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions at Viacom for 3 years. Gregg served as the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Sony from 2009 to 2016, and he launched his own private investing firm in July 2016 (www.gawalker.co). Gregg was chosen in 2010 by Crain's as one of NYC's 40 Under 40 Rising Stars (http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/40under40/profiles/2010/gregg-walker). Gregg is a Deacon at Abyssinian Baptist Church and served as the chairman of the Board of the Harlem YMCA. He has served on the Boards of movie studio MGM and music publishing companies Sony/ATV and EMI Music Publishing. He is also a Board member of Harlem RBI and Derek Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation. He is a former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a representative of the US at the 2002 Young Leaders Conference of the American Council on Germany. Gregg is also a member of many other foundations and community organizations.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Bloomberg Counters His Own Attacks on People of Color

NYC Mayor Bloomberg has pledged $30 million of his own money toward improving opportunities for Black and Latino men, but he continues to promote the most policies geared toward damaging people of color.

One would find it difficult to oppose the $127 million of funding, the $30 million contribution from the Mayor, or the focus on the plight of men of color in our city, but this initiative is small in comparison to the problems faced by these men. By my estimation, it results in less than $50 per man of color in our city.

Our primary reaction to this initiative is to marvel at the inconsistency of the Mayor's approach to men of color. As we'll discuss later in this post, the Mayor is one of the key components of the pain inflicted on men of color, and he could end that pain at no cost at any time. Instead, he continues to punish people of color in our city for not being born white. People of Color Facing Challenges in Our City and Beyond

Donna Lieberman, the executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said, the stop and frisk numbers “are going in the absolutely wrong direction.”

"Stop and frisk has a place in law enforcement but the abuse of this tactic to target absolutely innocent people is bad for all New Yorkers,” she said. “This practice seriously undermines the quality of life for people of color in New York City, particularly in the poorest, most vulnerable neighborhoods."

Ninety percent of those incarcerated in our city are people of color, and only 28% of Black men in our city graduate from high school.

Perhaps Mayor Bloomberg's $30 million investment is a part of a new thinking by him that will change our city. For now, the most powerful action Mayor Bloomberg can take to improve the lives of men of color in our city is an action that he can take without the help of George Soros or any of his fellow billionaires. He should resign.